Dancing Away with My Heart
by AkaOkamiRyu
Summary: When Greg finds himself unexpectedly in need of a date to an old friend's wedding, Morgan steps in to help out. But a weekend away together in California may just change everything about their friendship-especially if college friends, Greg's parents and D.B. Russell have any say in the matter.


In an effort to increase the number of Morganders fics out there, I'm posting the start of this multi-chapter project that will be completely separate from my Quotables. I'm predicting this story will be roughly five chapters long with this introductory chapter likely being the shortest. The title is based off a Lady Antebellum song, but the lyrics of said song do not reflect the actual overall plot.

This takes place sometime before season two began—more details about the premise of this story at the end.

Please note, I do not own CSI and make no profit besides my own (and hopefully your) happiness from the making of this story.

Enjoy!

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**Dancing Away with my Heart**

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**Chapter 1: Plans & Plus One's**

Morgan's thoughts of a hot bath and a good day's sleep were suddenly interrupted by the sound of Greg's voice as she walked into the locker room one morning to change at the end of her shift. "Look Kit, I'm sorry, but the wedding's this weekend. How do you expect me to find a date in that amount of time?" Curious, the blond continued toward the lockers as an unfamiliar, echoing female voice answered.

"I know, I know and I'm sorry it's so short notice but my date cancelled, and if we're both at this wedding without one, my mother is going to be completely unbearable. And I'm flying home this afternoon, so there's no way I'm going to be able to find someone to take and help with all the last minute prep." Rounding the corner, Morgan noticed Greg was finishing changing himself. His back was toward her as he slid on a dark button up, his cell phone perched in his locker.

"Your mom isn't that bad, Kit." He attempted to sooth, fingers working their way through the buttons on his shirt. Hovering somewhere between curious and confused, Morgan leaned against the opposite locker bay to listen to the rest of the conversation. Greg was just taking a seat to pull on his socks and shoes when the voice replied with a sharp, and admittedly slightly exasperated, laugh. "Okay, okay, your mom's a little crazy, I'll admit."

"And it's only going to be worse at the wedding. Andi's pregnant again and Caro's getting married. That means she's down to one failure of a daughter," At this, Greg made an attempt to interrupt, but the voice on the other end of the phone plowed through. "I know I'm not actually a failure Greg, but I'm the black sheep in my mother's eyes. It's going to be bad enough; the last thing I want to have to do is spend the whole night listening to her pointed comments about yours and my relationship. I can't imagine it'll be that much fun for you either."

He sighed, pausing in the midst of tying up his shoe laces. "You'd think the woman would have given up on that one years ago." Greg began to tidy up his locker as silence reigned for a long moment. "I'll try Kit, but I can't make any promises."

The voice, Kit's voice, Morgan told herself, seemed to cheer slightly, as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Sensing the conversation was coming to a close, and not wanting to be caught deliberately eavesdropping, she quietly made her way to her own locker, shrugging out of her work vest. "God, you're the best. Maybe you've got a friend who'd like a weekend vacation? Anyway, I'm really excited to see you, it's been too long. But I've got to go, my DNA results should be in by now and I'd like to wrap this case before I fly home. See you next weekend, be safe!"

Greg shut his locker and turned as he said his goodbye's and hung up, surprised to see Morgan had entered the locker room while he'd been on his call. Hearing the call cut, she turned to smile at him over her shoulder. "What was that all about?"

Pocketing his phone, Greg reclined back on the bench to explain as Morgan finished getting ready to go home. "That was Kit," he began, wondering what would be the quickest but most thorough way to explain the situation. "We were best friends in college, and we've managed to stay really close over the years. It helps that our hometowns are only an hour apart, and that we've gotten to know one another's family pretty well too. Her younger sister Caroline's getting married this weekend and I've been planning on just going by myself, but now that Kit's date cancelled, she wants me to find a date for the wedding instead."

Morgan had gotten most of this from the conversation, aided by the fact that his speakerphone had allowed her to hear both sides. Still, the urgency of having a date remained lost on her. "And it's a big deal because?"

He sighed again, the long shift catching up with him. "Kit's mom is really old fashioned about certain things, like marriage. She thinks that because Kit is in her thirties and not married, she's somehow failed as a mother and needs to make up for it." Greg's exhaustion dissipated for a moment, chased away by a grin as he watched the indignation spread across Morgan's face. "I know, it's ridiculous, but it's how she is. Because we've stayed friends through the years, her mom thinks it's some sort of sign that we're destined to be together, and tries to make that happen every chance she gets."

"So one of you having a date would counteract that?" Morgan summarized, smiling down at him, trying to imagine some Mrs. Bennet-esque older woman chasing Greg down with wild schemes to marry him off to her daughter.

"It's helped in the past," he confirmed with a shrug, standing up as she grabbed her bag and closed her own locker door. "Her mom really does mean well," he added, after a moment, "it's just hard on Kit. She's the only one in the family not in the medical field, the only one who's single, the only one who doesn't still live in California—her mom makes her feel like she's the odd one out."

While Morgan was far from the black sheep of her family (honestly she wasn't sure what would qualify someone to be a black sheep for a family like hers), she could certainly appreciate the difficulty of a strained relationship with a parent. She and her father were still not on the best of terms, though they'd been doing better the last few months considering all that had happened. "You said the wedding's this weekend?" She asked suddenly, surprising Greg who'd been following her to the door.

"Yeah, I was going to leave midday Friday, after getting some sleep, spend the night at my parent's place then head to Thousand Oaks for the wedding Saturday morning. Figured I'd make it back just before shift on Sunday." After all, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been home; it had seemed like a great way to kill two birds with one stone (and only two days vacation).

"Well, if you want some company, and Russell doesn't mind me taking off, I could be your plus one." Greg looked at her in surprise, a smile spreading hopefully across his face. "Saturday's already my night off, one more day couldn't hurt. Beats spending my day off watching Nova reruns and drinking red wine."

"Morgan Brody, you might just be my hero," Greg admitted, still grinning widely at the possibility. Besides simply appeasing his old college friend, it would be nice to have company for the drive and the wedding.

Not to mention the chance to spend some quality time with a woman who had quickly become one of his closest friends ever since she's moved to Vegas nearly a year ago. (And might still be the source of a lingering, but generally ignored, crush).

She just laughed at his enthusiasm, "don't get too excited yet Sanders, I've gotta okay it with D.B. first."

"Okay what with D.B.?" The man in question asked, poking his head out as the pair of younger CSI's passed his office door.

Both Greg and Morgan stopped to turn back, Morgan quickly explaining. "I was wondering if I could get Friday night off to go to that wedding in California with Greg, actually."

Eyes bright with amusement, D.B. looked between the two as if deep in thought. For a long moment there was silence before he shook his head, rolled his eyes and laughed. "Yeah, sure, we can hold down the fort one extra night. Enjoy yourself," he finished, waving them both away for the day. "And go home and get some sleep, both of you. You just pulled a shift and a half, neither of you will be in any shape for a wedding in a few days at this rate."

Chuckling, Morgan and Greg both made their way to the parking lot, discussing plans for the upcoming weekend.

"It'll be nice," Morgan said as they prepared to part ways at their cars, "to have a weekend off and something to look forward to."

Greg smiled at her from the next spot over. "And to have someone to talk to—thanks Morgan."

"Anytime. See you tonight?"

He nodded as both got into their vehicles, lost in thoughts of sleep, packing and plans. The next four days could not pass quickly enough, Greg thought as he turned the ignition and headed home.

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End Chapter 1

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Alright, so this was the introductory chapter. Next chapter we'll jump to the day they head out to the wedding and this story will basically cover the events of that weekend.

For those of you who dislike original characters, I'm sorry; this story will feature a few. I wanted to write something that pulled them away from the usual team and allowed for both time alone as well as alternate perspectives on them and their friendship/relationship.

Fans of Quotable, don't worry. I am currently have 4 installments I'm working on, they keep distracting me from each other, but I should have one wrapped up and ready to go over the next few days. In addition, I have a few other projects for these two that I'm working in—so keep an eye out for those.

Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated, especially as this is a new venture and I'd love your thoughts on it, where you'd like to see it go and any other ideas you have—so please, let me know what you're thinking.

Otherwise, thanks for your time & a pre-thank you for reviews & your thoughts. Major props to all those other Morganders/Grody writers—I love your work and plan to spend my weekend catching up on all the new updates from the last few weeks, you guys are awesome and I'm glad we've got a small but strong community of writers here.

Take Care & Best Wishes,

AkaOkamiRyu


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